I’d like to read a Scripture:

• 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NLT) — 9 The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 
• This verse tells us a few things
  • God is searching the earth
    • For worshippers - John 4
    • For someone to send - Isaiah 6
    • For someone to stand in the gap - Ezekiel 22
    • For someone after His own heart - 1 Samuel 13:14
  • He wants to strengthen someone
  • Whose hearts are full committed, or totally reliant, or looking exclusively to Him

Tell the story of King Asa

Three challenges for next year

1. Challenge # 1 - START STRONG
   1. I love a good start! - marathons, new years, working out
   2. Ways that Asa started strong
      1. Tore down all the idols, places of worship
      2. Ethiopian army led by Zerah and having 1 million soldiers marched against him, HE CRIED OUT TO THE LORD! God gave him victory 
         1. Met by a prophet that said the following
            1. 2 Chronicles 15:1–2 (NLT) — 1 Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle. “Listen to me, Asa!” he shouted. “Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The LORD will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
      3. Entered into a covenant to seek the Lord with all their heart and soul
      4. Restored the temple
      5. Disposed his grandmother
   3. Great challenge to new believers
      1. Tear down anything that takes your heart away from the Lord
      2. Make a decision to look to God in trouble
      3. Enter into the year with a decision and declaration that you will seek the Lord
      4. Dispose of relationships that cause you to be unequally yoked
2. Challenge #2 - DON’T LET PEACE ROB YOUR PASSION
   1. Asa went 25 years with no war... God gave him peace on all sides
   2. Peace is great, but also presents challenges
   3. God’s blessing is great, but also presents challenges
   4. The negatives of the time of peace
      1. Grew tired of seeking the Lord
      2. Thought his past passion was enough for today’s apathy
      3. Made him forget that it was the Lord, not he, that brought the victory 
      4. Relied on his own strength
3. Challenge #3 - RELY ON GOD FOR EVERYTHING
   1. After peace he became self reliant
   2. King Baasha came against him
      1. He emptied the treasures of the temple and made alliance with Ben-Hadad of Aram
      2. The prophet came and rebuked him
   3. He threw the prophet in prison and put him in stocks... Then he started oppressing people
   4. He came down with a foot disease
      1. 2 Chronicles 16:12–13 (NLT) — 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the LORD’s help but turned only to his physicians. 13 So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.
4. The big question is
   1. Where do you have your trust right now? 
   2. Has a time of peace caused you to lose your passion for the Lord